Slaton man pleads guilty to child porn charges

LUBBOCK — A Federal judge sentenced a 77-year-old Slaton man to up to 30 years in prison Friday after he pleaded guilty to making pornographic videos with an underaged girl.

Dale Wray Fulford also faces a fine of up to $250,000, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Fulford was arrested by Lubbock County Sheriff’s deputies in February after the parents of a 14-year-old Slaton girl discovered in January he had been abusing her for about seven years while they lived in a house he owned.

A federal grand jury indicted him Feb. 18 on one count of producing child pornography.

Fulford admitted that from February 2013 to early February 2014, he used, persuaded, induced and enticed the victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct that he recorded on a digital camera.

Fulford also was indicted by a Lubbock grand jury on one count each of continuous sexual abuse of a child and sexual assault of a child. Continuous sexual abuse is a first-degree felony with conviction carrying a sentence of either life, or five to 99 years in prison. Sexual assault of a child is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison.

Fulford has entered pleas of not guilty for both charges, according to court records.

A plea negotiation conference hearing on those cases is scheduled for May.

The mother of the victim told investigators she thought Fulford was grooming her daughter to become his wife, according to a warrant released Feb. 4 that detailed a seven-year period of sexual abuse, which included the use of homemade sex toys.

According to the warrant, Fulford helped the victim’s parents financially and would look after their children at his house.

The victim told investigators Fulford touched her inappropriately whenever she and her sister would come to his house, which happened every day, according to the warrant.

According to the victim, Fulford only abused her.

He began having sex with her when she was 10 and it would happen regularly once she reached puberty, according to the warrant.

The federal case was part of a nationwide initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse called Project Safe Childhood.

The project marshals federal, state and local resources to prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and identify and rescue victims, according to the DOJ news release.